Improvement in pick and ax combined



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

H. L. LOWMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN PICK AND AX COMBINED.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,438, dated October 2, 1866.

. specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a sectional side elevation of thisinvention. Fig 2 is a plan or top 'view of the same.

Similar letters of reference ,indicate like parts.

This invention 'consists in a combined pick and ax, the eye of which is of an elliptical form in transversesection and of even size throughout its whole length. V

B y the union of two tools economy of weight and construction isattained, as the same eftciency may be derived from the one tool in the majority of ninstances as would be derived from the two in which the pick and ax are on their respective helves, and the construction of the eye, by superseding the necessity of wedging, renders the tool more convenient for storage and more practically efficient.

The helve is made to tit the eye exactly and so tightly as to be conveniently driven in, but admitting of removal by a few blows in the right direction. It is held with such firmness by the eye of the tool that the latter will not slip ot't' when swinging it, and the blow is de livered at about right angles to the axis ot' the hel ve, which does not tend to displace the tool. Experience has shown me that the tapered form ot' the eye is unnecessary, as the wedges which are usually driven into the helve to cause it to open and occupy the eye can be dispensed with. I prefer to make the eye of the tool elliptical, the sides preserving an even shape throughout, the eye being ot' the sameV size and shape all the way through, as near as possible.

The same form ot' eye is shown in my patent mining -piclr, patented June 6, 1865, No. 48,080; but it is therein connection with a pick, and claimed only in connection with such bit as merges by curved lines with the socket, which is not descriptive of the bit of an ax.

A represents a pick,- one prong of which is left in its ordinary state, while its other prong is cut oft' and replaced by an ax, the eye O being of an elliptical shape in transverse section or plan, Fig. 2, and preserving the shape throughout its length, as shown in the section, Fig. 1. By these means a tool is obtained which serves the double purpose of a pick and of an aX, and which is ot the greatest advantage, particularly tor armies passing through tracts of land where roads have to be built through woods and over rocks. My tool is not heavier than an ordinary pick or an ordinaryax, and by combining the two tools in one the bull; to be carried by the men is materially reduced, its efficiency increased by the mode of helving; and furthermore, a considerable amount is saved in expense, since the cost of my tool is not greater than that of either of the two tools which it is intended to replace. l,

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to-secnre by Letters Patent- As a new article ot manufacture, a compound tool consisting of anax and pick united, the eye being of elliptical form and ot' even size throughout its length, as described and represented.

H. L. LOWMAN.

Witnesses.:

W. HAUFF, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

